


Marvelous Paladins

by Tempesta_Tricolor



Category: Marvel (Comics), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon-Typical Violence, Earth to Space, F/M, Galra Empire, Gen, Inhumans (Marvel), Kree (Marvel), M/M, Minor Character Death, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Pidge | Katie Holt, Shi'ar (Marvel), Skrull(s), marvel AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-02-15 18:27:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13036905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempesta_Tricolor/pseuds/Tempesta_Tricolor
Summary: Life on Earth isn't exactly mundane. It's quite the opposite really, with the constant threat of villains ranging from the hideous Mole Man to the ruthless Dr. Doom. That, however, is quite tame for what is in store for four super powered teens and an ex-fugitive of a tyrannical race of what could best be described as bipedal space cats, as they are about to be dragged into a bout of cosmic proportions. Together, they must learn to work together if they wish form Voltron and survive this universal scale war.~A.ka. Voltron Marvel AU that's probably too specific.





	1. Bird of Prey

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea pretty much out of the blue when I read through War and Realm of Kings. I thought it'd be pretty interesting, and I may very well be the only one (likely due to my poor writing).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Lance, ever the curious person, stumbled into an embankment as if something there were calling to him. To his utter surprise, there was in face something there, seeming to compel him into coming closer. He could have sworn it was actually pulling him in. Sitting there, in the shallow waters of the river, was a purple diamond. At least he assumed it was diamond; it's shaped like one, at least."
> 
> The first of the origins, Lance stumbles upon a mysterious amulet that grants him the ability to 'body-swap' with an alien war machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why I chose to have Lance come into contact with a Raptor Amulet, but I like it as opposed to, say, ice powers. Of course I'll be changing the abilities that come along with that just a little since Darkhawk (who I based Lance on) was ret-conned and hasn't been properly fleshed out just yet.

        Lance, ever the curious person, stumbled into an embankment as if something there were calling to him. To his utter surprise, there was in face something there, seeming to compel him into coming closer. He could have sworn it was actually pulling him in. Sitting there, in the shallow waters of the river, was a purple diamond. At least he _assumed_ it was diamond; it's shaped like one, at least. "Weird," he mumbles to himself. The "diamond" began pulsating as he drew closer, further enticing him to touch it. Lance reached down to pick up the mysterious, and somewhat unnerving, "diamond" only to discover it was a full on amulet.

        Creep factor aside, the amulet made quite the accessory, and even though he'd just found it in the river, Lance was quick to try it on. "Wow, this thing's almost as good looking as me! _Almost,_ " he says as he looks upon his reflection, striking numerous poses. As he continued to admire himself, the amulet burrowed... well not burrowed so much as phased into his chest, only leaving a quarter of itself in view. Lance didn't even have time to react, or at least crack a Tony Stark joke, before his own body transformed before him. Well, it was more like his body got swapped out with another one.

        "What the hell...?" Lance muttered to himself, beginning to panic in this foreign body, flailing in place so fast his arms were leaving afterimages. Every part of this new body was much more muscular than he was, and so much larger. Hell, he even feels taller. He was far too distracted in his stupor to notice the rather large frog that had leaped at him. Of course a little ole frog manages to startle him enough that he jerked back; to keep from hurting the poor frog of course.

        Normally, if he were to suddenly lurch backwards, he'd only stumble a few feet at the most. Instead, he propelled himself backwards with enough force that he pierced through the embankment and soared over the road, landing just beside the sidewalk. 

       "Okay.. ouch? D-did that even hurt?" he asks no one in particular, not even himself, wiping dirt and concrete from his new form. Staggering back to his feet, a quick glance to the side affords him the knowledge that he wasn't the only person to witness his little stunt. Right there on the sidewalk were three kids. Three kids he _knew_. He waited a few seconds, expecting the children to recognize him, only for them to stare back in bewilderment. 'Right, I don't look the same.' he thinks. Before long, the smallest of them, his niece Maricela, spoke up. 

       "Are you an avenger?" she asked. Okay, he genuinely didn't expect that question. "What? Maybe. Wait no, I'm, just uh, a guy in a cool costume? Yeah its just a costume! Kinda like cosplay," he says, not entirely sure how to answer. He didn't sound too convincing, also noting the change of voice. Sounded kind of robotic. 

       "That's not a costume! You just busted out of the ground!" shouted his nephew Enrique, who was emphasizing with his hands. Must run in the family. 

       " _Burst_ mi sobrino. The word is you want is burst," Lance says before he can catch himself.  "¿Que? No es mi tio pendejo," Enrique says as he makes a face at him. Technically he was right, he wasn't his uncle, not like this. Whoever _this_ was, it wasn't Lance. "Hey, language kid, you're like twelve!" he says, trying to sound much older than he really was. "What are you kids doing anyway, this isn't any place to play."

       "We were following our Uncle Lance, but we don't know where he went! I hope he's okay," said Maricela. The other little girl, Arielle, his kid sister, nodded her head with watery eyes. She was always the type to worry about others too much, just like him. "I'm sure Lance is just fine, there's nothing to worry about. He'll come home later, I'll make sure of that, alright?" he says to the children, sounding confident and mature. They all nodded in approval before Arielle timidly sought confirmation, "promise?" He knelt down and ruffled her hair before responding. "Promise."

       Before they could turn to leave however, Lance noticed a car barreling towards them all. Without a second thought, Lance launched himself past his siblings and put his arm out in an attempt to get the driver to stop. Instead, a moment later, there were two halves of a sports car sailing past them. The kids hadn't even noticed that Lance had even moved yet, let alone cleaved a car in half. They all turned around in shock, only to be surprised by the sight that awaited them. There Lance stood, holding an unconscious man and boasting wings that he didn't have two seconds ago. The wings themselves were less wings and more blades that extended down his arm in a wing like fashion. 

       "Woah cool, you have wings!" Enrique said hopping in place with excitement, "like a hawk!" 

       "Yeah! And that thing on your chest is glowing now! Like really, really glowing!" Maricela exclaims. Huh, it was a lot more vibrant than it was before. 'Who has awakened the Raptor within?' a voice echoes. Lance looks around, not seeing anyone else and chalks it up to the stress of saving kids. "Excuse me mister, but what's your name?" his sister asks. What should he tell them, he can't exactly say he's Lance. "I'm... uh.. Brighthawk! Yeah, I'm Brighthawk," he says triumphantly, striking a heroic pose. 

       "Bright..hawk..?" all of the kids say in unison. 

       "Yes, Brighthawk, now you kids better skidaddle before this drunk guy wakes up and sees his car in two pieces. Can't imagine he'd be too thrilled about that," he says, the smirk evident in his tone, as he gestures for the kids to go. They all looked to each other, speaking incomprehensibly amongst one another before waving goodbye and running off. They were definitely about to tell the rest of the family about what happened. He hears a groan behind him, prompting him to flee the scene himself as he leaps into the air and glides off. 'Wow this is cool' he thinks.

 

* * *

 

      "Yeah ma, I'll be home a little later, I'm, uh, going out with friends. What? No I'm not with Joey West. Okay. Ahuh. I'll be safe ma, love you, bye." he hangs up the phone with a sigh. Luckily, Lance didn't need to be home anytime soon since it was a summer night. He also couldn't explain why he was using a pay-phone to call his mom. But he still had time to figure this all out. He glides off of the branch he was perched on, gliding down to find somewhere he can get a better look at himself. Low and behold there's a newly abandoned building that just happened to be filled with mirrors. Must've been a furniture store or something. 

      Standing in the mirror, Lance examines himself, taking in the metallic refletion of the armor, and pale blue of the stripes on his arms and legs, and stands at least six and a half feet tall. His head, rather the armor's head, was a sleek mixture of black and blue coloring, much like the rest of the body, complimented with a visor of vibrant purple, the same color as the amulet.. that was now in embedded in his chest. "This is actually pretty cool, given the circumstances," he says to himself. The only problem is how in Sam Hell would he get back to normal? Removing the amulet may work, but that'd mean gouging it from his chest. Maybe if he just touches it...

      'Who dares to touch an amulet of a Raptor?' the disembodied voice from earlier says. Lance looks around frantically, unsure if he is alone. "Who said that? I'll warn you one time and that's all you get," he says.

      'Your false bravado is not needed. I am amazed that you are still in control, nothing can resist the influence of a Raptor. How could you possibly be in control of the armor. Are you not Shi'ar? Kree? Surely you are not a skrull,' the voice says, sounding somewhat perplexed. Lance does nothing but blink, or at least he thinks he does. "No, I'm human..?" he wonders why it came out as a question. There's a moment's pause before either speaks again.

      'I see, I haven't any recollection of "humans", your species must be more recent.' 

      "Well, I'm only seventeen so-"

      'Silence. I was not interested in your biological age, child, and the Datasong has given me all the information I'll need to know. I will not be gaining control over this armor, _"human"._ Not without the influence of another Raptor.' While he was indignant at being told silence, Lance's curiosity got the better of him. "What's the Datasong? And should I be worried about another... Raptor coming anytime soon?" asks Lance.

      'The Datasong is what's connecting your consciousness to the armor from your body in Null Space. As I've learned, your genetics are not accounted for, so no other Raptor will be alerted to my activation. I will communicate with you as I see fit, as I do not wish to be destroyed in any unfortunate events.'

     "That's cool and all, but I don't even know who you are or how you're talking to me," Lance says. 

     'I am Spira, member of the Fraternity of Raptors, an ancient guild of assassins under the Shi'ar empire,' Spira says. "Riiighht. Well, I'm Lance McLain, member of the McClain family and fraternity of good looks. Oh, and student of the Galaxy Garrison," Lance responds, smirking to himself subconsciously. Okay, this may not be so bad after all, as long as Spira provided a capable mentor. How bad could it possibly be. Wait.. shit, he still doesn't know how to get his own body back. 

     "Hey Spira?"

     'Yes, young McClain?'

     "How do I turn this off?" Lance asks sheepishly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to rearrange the chapters, but seeing that I'd already written the following chapter so that Lance already possessed the amulet I'll just leave it as is.


	2. Beginning of the End?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Voltron crew as you know it comes together, only to reveal the secrets they'd been hiding for who knows how long because the situation gets blown out of proportion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Returning to this whoop whoop.

 "So anything else I can do?" Lance asks, gazing at the stars waiting for Hunk to meet him on the roof, having arrived back at Garrison long before him. 'If the armor and your very being enter a state of perfect synchronization, your body will merge with that of the Raptor armor. Though very few have actually achieved this.'

"Well that may be so, but the other's didn't have their own personal raptor coach, right?"

'Perhaps this joint-venture will prove more fruitful than the Fraternities'.. past practices,' Spira... says? Well, he's really just projecting his voice into Lance's mind.

"Uh, who're you talking to?" Hunk suddenly interrupts Lance's train of thought. _Get it? Because... oh never mind._

"Hunk?! Oh-uh, I mean. Hey man! Took ya long enough." Lance stammers. "I was just, uh, reciting lines from this show I saw the other night."

Hunk only raised a questioning eyebrow, not bothering to question him any further. "Sure man, so what're we doing up here anyway?"

"Up here? Not a thing my man. Just wanted to stare at the sky until you got here." Lance glances beyond Hunk and spots their smaller squadmate, Pidge. What's she doing anyway? "Hey, what's Pidge doing over there?" Hunk whips his head around as if he'd been told there was a new recipe for cookies behind him.

"No idea."

"Well lets go find out!"

Navigating to the portion of roof Pidge was perched on prooved more difficult than either of them anticipated. By the time they'd made it there, after dodging all of the security, Lance had expected her to be long gone. His expectations were dashed the moment he and Hunk rounded the corner on the roof. There she was, typing away with those green headphones on full blast, glare from her laptop and... other devices reflecting from her glasses and soft, pale skin.

She obviously didn't notice the boy's approach as she continues to type away on laptop. Lance bends over and uncovers one side of the headphones before asking "You come up here to rock out?"

Pidge, startled, fumbles with her laptop and headphones before turning to face the perpetrator. "Oh it's just you guys."

"What are you doing out this late?"

"Well Hunk and I were gonna go get sundaes!"

"At twelve at night?"

 Lance huffs. "Yes. And hit on girls, but that's beside the point. What are _you_ doing up here?" he counters. Hunk rolls his eyes at the "hit on girls" bit. "If you _must_ know, I'm listening for unknown frequencies from up there."

Both Lance and Hunk look up. "From space?" they ask in unison. Pidge nods, smirking, practically drowning in pride. 

"So you're telling me aliens are real?" Hunk asks, admiring her gadgets.

"No touching," she says as she smacks Hunk's hand away. "And yes, ever since I picked up their signal a few months ago I've been coming up here hoping to catch the signal again. Hopefully it'll give me the answers I need."

 The boys share a glance. "Answers for what?" Lance asks. 'Unidentified object incoming,' Spira interrupts. "What?!" Lance flails in place, completely forgetting he had a passenger in the form of a disembodied voice in his head. 

 "Wha-? What happened?" asks Hunk, startled at Lance's sudden outburst. Pidge only looks at him as if she's suspicious of something. Her eyes don't linger as her laptop warns them all of an incoming object falling from, you guessed it, space. Just as the laptop warned, the trio is startled by a sonic boom of an approaching object just above their heads. 

 "Woah, must be a meteor," Lance says off-handily, knowing full well it isn't actually a meteor. "A really, really big meteor?" Hunk adds.

 "No, it's emitting the same frequency as the signal from before," Pidge says, looking over at the object with a pair of binoculars neither of them noticed before. "Whatever it _is,_ Garrison has personnel swarming it already." She wasn't wrong, Garrison had already deployed several units to the crash site.

  "No Hunk, he wasn't on fire, his bike was! And I'm not just gonna let him take all of the credit for saving my hero," Lance all but yells as he bolts off in the direction of Shiro and Keith.

"We have got to see that ship!" Pidge exclaims. "Seriously? Worst team building exercise ever," Hunk says, begrudgingly following the pair down to the crash site.

The small group finds the perfect vantage point of the meteor, which can clearly be see as a ship. An alien ship. "Woah.. what the heck is that thing? No no no wait, better question. Who the heck is  _she?"_ Lance inquires, earning a smack from Pidge. "Ow! Right right, security, there's no way we're getting down there without being caught!"

"Aw that sucks, guess that means we can head back to Garrison now and maybe still grab song ice cream," suggests Hunk.

"Wait, they set up a camera in there. I managed to hack into the video feed. Take a look," Pidge says. 

"You have to listen to me, they destroy worlds! We have to do something! We're too open to attack!" Shiro says, apparently falling on deaf ears in the small campsite. The Garrison personnel continue to run tests as if he hasn't said a word.

"Thats Shiro! Y'know, pilot of the Kerberos mission." Lance exclaims. "Guess he didn't die in space after all," says Hunk. 

"Where's the rest of the crew?" asks Pidge, sounding a bit more distraught than she wanted. 

Finally, one of the personnel speaks. "Do you know how long you've been gone?" asks Iverson, voice easily distinguishable, despite the shoddy quality of the audio.

"What? I don't know? Could've been months. Maybe years? That doesn't matter! There's no time!" says an increasingly distressed."Aliens are coming for some weapon. I'm willing to bet they're on their way as we speak! We have to find Voltron before they destroy us!" Instead of taking head to his warnings, they proceed to make remarks on his new cyborg prosthetic arm, which is far more advanced than any tech they have barring Tony Stark himself sharing his designs. "Wait, no! Don't sedate me! There's no time! Why won't you listen to me?!" Shiro continues to plea.

"They didn't even ask about the others crew members," Pidge says somberly. Neither Hunk or Lance seemed to catch her tone. 

"Why won't they listen to him? The man's a legend," Lance says. "We have to get him out of there," says Pidge, looking to Lance. 

Hunk perks up at her words. "Woah woah slow down. I hate to be the logical one, but weren't we watching the camera feed because we couldn't get passed the security?" he asks, making a good point. 

"Hunk that was before we had any real reason to. Now, how do we get in," Lance asks aloud. 'You could get in via the armor's stealth functionality,' Spira interjects. Lance seems to ignore this, preferring to not appear to be talking to himself. Besides, there were probably more ways to get in than resorting to exposing himself to his friends.

"We could disguise ourselves as med techs or security detail, just need hazmat suits," Pidge suggests.

"Or we could dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms and sneak into the commissary and whip up a late night snack," says Hunk. 

Lance, side-eying Hunk, simply replies with a 'no'. "We need a distraction." And, as if his statement was heard by the gods, several explosions are set off just barely beyond the crash site. While Hunk is panicking, thinking the aliens are already attacking, Pidge notices a rogue heading toward the camp. "No, not aliens. But it was a distraction. For him!"

 Lance takes the binoculars for himself to observe said perpetrator. "Oh _hell_  no! He is not gonna save Shiro before us. He's always trying to one-up me! How'd he even get a flaming motorcycle?!"

"Wha- Who is it?" Hunk asks.

"Keith!" Lance responds, followed by a "who" from a bewildered Pidge.

""What? You sure that's Keith? He was just on fire!" Hunk says, following Lance closely as he worried, though this was a genuine cause for worry.

"I'd recognize that god-awful mullet anywhere!" Said mullet that was just... on fire? What? 

Meanwhile, Keith was making short work of medical staff within the small "tent", sporting a mask that barely covered half of his face. He looks at the man currently strapped to the table, eyes full of recognition. "Shiro?" is all he can muster.

"No, no nuh uh. No, I refuse. I'm the one rescuing Shiro." 

"Who're you?" asks Keith.

"Wh-who am I?" Lance repeats, feigning annoyance, "the name's Lance." Nothing from Keith. "We were in the same class in Garrison?"

"Huh? You an engineer?"

"No, I'm a pilot! We were basically rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck," Lance says, not sounding too convincing.

"Oh I remember you, you're a cargo pilot."

"Pfft, not anymore since you dropped out. I'm fighter class now," Lance says, actually annoyed now. 'You do not have time for this banter, young Lance,' Spira says, reminding Lance yet again of his presence. 'Shush, this is personal,' Lance thinks.

Without warning, a high-explosive shell is fired at the camp. The Garrison didn't seem to take too kindly to the explosive distraction, apparently taking it for a hostile attack, with little care for Shiro's presence. The ensuing result is astonishing to all present in the blast. After the smoke clears, there stands three new silhouettes, replacing Lance, Keith and Hunk, leaving Pidge and Shiro the only two that hadn't completely changed in appearance. Though that doesn't explain how she was unscathed.

Lance, now in the raptor armor, stood covering himself from the blast having been transformed by Spira in the sudden explosion. Hunk, or who they _assumed_ was Hunk, mostly because of the headband, stood a good two feet taller than before, boasting skin reminiscent of stone, though it was still his natural skin tone, as well as having much larger muscles. As if he weren't large already. Finally, instead of Keith there was what you describe as nothing short as _the_ Ghost Rider, save for the half-mask reappearing on the flaming skull.

They all exchange glances, or as much as a glance an android and flaming skull could provide. "Okay, what?" Lance says. 

"Lance?" both Pidge and Hunk ask. To be fair, Lance only sounds vaguely similar to before, with the odd semi-robotic modulation becoming more prominent as time progresses.

"Uh, yeah," is all Lance can say. "So, I'm guessing you're Hunk, and the flaming emo is obviously Keith. But that doesn't explain how you're okay right now Pidge."

"Guys, we don't have time for this," Hunk says, panicking despite his obvious durability, but he has a point yet again. "Big guy's right, we gotta go," Keith agrees, summoning his  _flaming_ motorcycle. 

"Okay that was cool," Lance states. "Yeah it was, but I don't think we'll all be able to fit on that," says Pidge. 

"I.. don't think we all need to fit," says Hunk, "We all clearly have something up our sleeves." The Garrison forces were getting closer, and they really needed to go. Lance looks at Pidge, then at Keith's bike. He sighs, unsure if his idea is a very good one. 'Whatever' he thinks, before he reveals his metallic wing-like blades. 'You do not require the use of the blades to fly young one,' says Spira, yet again speaking out of nowhere. 

"Hop on Pidge." She complies, quickly hopping onto his shoulders. Okay, she had to have jumped at the very least seven feet in the air, what the hell. 

Keith hops on his motorcycle, clearly in a rush. "Alright, lets go!" he orders as he speeds off at impossible speeds. Hunk follows suit, running at breakneck speeds before leaping great distances to keep up as Lance flew just behind Keith. Not because he was slower than Keith, oh no, he was just worried Pidge would fall off if he flew full speed, and he had no idea where they were going. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda hate that I kindaaa stuck to the canon beginning, despite being set on Marvel earth, where numerous heroes could intervene at any time, but I had no idea how else to kickstart the main story. And yes, they know Pidge is a girl from the beginning, which will be explained in her flashback chapter.


	3. Blast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang discovers the first key to finding Voltron, as well as a close encounter with the alien threat that looms over the universe.

The motley crew found respite in Keith's shack, having lost their pursuers long ago under the cover of night despite the faint flickering of Keith's flaming motorcycle from a distance. The whole ordeal was quite confusing, really. Here Lance thought he'd been the only one of his friends to possess any powers at all. As it turns out, every single one of them were keeping their abilities secret from one another. While he was also guilty of this, Lance was still hurt that even Hunk had managed to keep his secret under wraps for so long. Quite frankly, this whole predicament is ridiculous. Lance shifted uncomfortably on his feet, itching to ask what everyone's deal was, but everyone else was keen on discussing this  _Voltron_ nonsense. 

Leaning to peer out of the window, it at that moment that he'd actually been ignoring Pidge, who had been getting slightly more irate by the second. " _Lance."_ That got his attention. "Huh? What's the deal? Why are you yelling?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for several minutes you doofus. As we were discussing the possible whereabouts of Voltron, I picked up a signal on a similar frequency to yours. I'd say they were nearly identical, save for the point of origin." Pidge gives him an unreadable glance before turning to pinpoint the location with Hunk's help. Jeez, it wasn't his fault he was more worried about what had just happened a few hours ago than some make believe alien weapon. Okay, so maybe it wasn't so make believe.

"And how exactly did you detect the frequency? You left all of your equipment back on the rooftop!" Lance was practically shouting, pairing his words with eccentric hand movements. That, or he was performing the world's best impersonation of an inflatable. Probably the latter. "And don't say _well I didn't leave_ all _of it_ because I saw what you had in your bag! Dunno why you have pads on you, but I don't recall seeing anything that even remotely resembles a radio!" Now he was beginning to sound.. angry? Why was so upset?

Pidge, red-faced from embarrassment, decides to answer Lance as calmly as she possibly can, considering what he'd just revealed to everyone. "Well Lance if you  _must_ know, I already possess an internal signal detector. What I used back at the Garrison just increased my sample distance exponentially." She then glares daggers into him, having settled for a look of anger than of agony. "And since we're on the topic, why don't  _you_ explain your whole getup _Brighthawk_?"

It was Lance's turn to be under the scrutiny of the other's in the small shack. Seriously, how had Keith lived here for a year? "Well, uh, you see-"

"No, you don't have to tell us Lance," Shiro interjects, " I'm sure you have your reasons."

Thats just it. He didn't have any reason not to tell his partners. Lance ran a hand through his her, sighing during the action, having decided to come clean. "I should have told you guys that I was, no, am Brighthawk. There is no reason I can think of that I shouldn't have. I'm sorry Pidge, for being upset with you. With all of you. I had no right."

This time Hunk speaks up. "You aren't the only one that should have come clean buddy." He shoots Pidge a glance before he continues. "I mean, I haven't even really used my powers to do much of anything yet, so it wouldn't have hurt to confess to my best friend that I had super powers." 

"I... I'm already secretive enough as it is, so I only thought it natural to omit the fact that I'm practically organic Ultron." Lance raises a brow at her words while Hunk stifles laughter at her description. Shiro smirks, knowing just what the teen meant, having heard that rationalization of her powers before. "So, _Katie_ , I'm guessing you had to enroll under an alias of a boy to get information on the Kerberos Mission. Impessive." If Lance's jaw could detach, it would have fallen  _through_ the floor.

"You're a girl?!" Lance was doing the impersonation thing again. It gets funnier every time. "Uh, yes. Yes I am."

"I figured," says an unsurprised Keith who was still standing near the map of the desert, trying to make sense of recent occurrences. 

"Yeah I read your diary." Hunk earns a "What?!" from Pidge as Lance tries to argue with Keith over how he'd found out so easily after only just meeting her while she and Lance had been squad mates for nearly a year. The commotion soon becomes too much for Shiro as he presses his palm to his head. "K..Pidge, you said you detected a frequency similar to Lance's? What's that mean?"

"It mean's something out here is resonating with him." Pidge answer's almost too quickly for her own good. Lance had to stand there and process her words. 'What could be resonating with me way out here,' he thinks. "Whatever it is, it's not ours. And Hunk's already pinpointed the location." She can only push her glasses up so much before they're  _in_ her face. Her comment dragged Lance from his stupor, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's blow this Popsicle stand!" Keith roles his eyes at the expression almost instinctually. 

Soon, they were standing inside a cave that could be described nothing short of dank accented with weird carvings of what appeared to be a lion. Lance, if he were being honest, felt oddly at home, as if something was drawing him to the cave. In an attempt to uncover a carving, he accidentally activates the runes as the ground collapses beneath them. Lance instinctively switches to his hero persona to attempt to mitigate the damage, deciding to grab hold of Pidge as well. He... doesn't know why he does that, really. The fall isn't all that bad, though he'd fallen far faster than he would have had he remained human. 

He decided none of that was important as he gaped at the gigantic lion in front of him, protected by a bright blue force field. "Woah."

"Is.. this the Voltron?" Pidge questions.

"Must be." Shiro answers, not so sure himself, really.

"Anyone else get the feeling this thing is staring at them?" Lance interrupts, swaying back and forth in a path far too narrow to prove or disprove his claim. It was quite silly, really. A "no" from Shiro was his only answer. Too bad, he kept talking. "Yeah the eyes are totally following me." Everyone, sans Keith, pins him an odd look each.

Keith, meanwhile, is surveying the force field, gloved hands rubbing the surface. "Wonder how we get through this?"

"Maybe you just knock?" And with that, the force field deactivates, the eyes of the lion shimmering bright yellow, before revealing to the group a mental image of Voltron, a towering robot made of smaller robot lions. What?

"Did anyone else see that?" 

"Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, awesome robot!" Hunk chimes in. "And this is just one part of it!" exclaims Pidge.

Lance furrows his brow, wondering how no one else had found a giant metal lion before they did. "There are more than a few extreme geniuses on earth and they never even  _detected_ this?!" His shared thoughts are met with an answer almost immediately. 

"It is alien tech, maybe they can't even if the want to." He wasn't buying that, that's a crock of shit. "All the more reason that they'd know something was up! Wouldn't it be all  _anomalous_ around here. Like those SCP stories, but less death-y and more 'there's some alien fuckery at play here?"

"Language, Lance." Shiro really wasn't having it, especially not now, this was too serious a moment for such ridiculous comments. He mumbles a "sorry" before bounding up the lion's ramp, which happened to be it's mouth, sitting in the pilots seat, seemingly aware of how to operate the mechanical beast. Lance just attributes it to the lion communicating with him once he feels more than hears the lion in his head. He wonders if Spira feels it too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really hoping for some traction, I plan on getting pretty ridiculous with the stakes.


	4. Not Quite the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finds their lions, and the Galra find them.

If you'd had told him he'd be in a giant mechanical blue lion flying at speeds far beyond exit velocity, Lance would have taken you for psychopath. As fate, and reality, would have it, that is exactly what's transpiring. While it is  _awesome_ _,_  it isn't exactly something he'd wanted to do. Having everyone cling to him didn't help much, either. 

'Young one.' Oh, and there was the voice in his head, how could he have forgotten. Oh, and the lion feeding thoughts into his head, there was that too. 'There seems to be an alien vessel waiting in orbit.' Lance, having already been informed by the lion, only grunts in response. No use in trying to have a conversation with a voice in his head at a time like this.

"Where are you going?" Keith huffs, bracing the back of the pilot's seat. If Lance could gather _anything_ from this endeavor, it would be that people had a tendency to ask way too many questions. Mostly questions that no one had the answer to. 

"I  _just_ said it's on autopilot," he exclaims. To be fair, he had just said that. "The lion says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think it wants us to stop it." He wasn't sure how they were gonna do that, but you bet your ass he'd try. Pidge clearly wasn't having it. "What did it say, exactly?" The scowl wasn't necessary. 

"Well, it's not really saying words so much as it's projecting thoughts into mind. I think." 

"Well if this is the weapon those guys are looking for, why don't we just give it t-" Hunk's suggestion is cutoff, mentally, to Lance. He can only pretend to listen to his best friend.

'Ignore me if you wish, child, but the current point of defense that your people have set up is proving to be quite useless.' Okay, that got his attention. Earth didn't have any defenses in space. At least not to protect them from an alien attack. 'Okay what are you talking about?' he asks Spira. He gets his answer soon enough as the group comes face to face, so to say, with the alien ship. The defenses Spira mentioned were, in fact, fighting a losing battle. Well, that's one way to make a civilization feel inferior. 

"Holy crow is that an alien ship?" Hunk's panic seems to only be capable of increasing. "Uhh.. what's that?" Who did Hunk really think knew the answer? Perhaps Pidge would. Lance sure didn't. "The better question is why did they engage?! They're facing an enemy with weaponry we can't even begin to comprehend just yet." Pidge does have a point. Attacking an enemy that could very well destroy you as an afterthought was akin to suicide. 

The blue lion's arrival into the fray seemed to draw all of their attention, as all the weaponry was now trained on them. A flurry of purple lasers engulfed the area around the lion, some appearing larger than the lion itself. "We've gotta get it out of here!" Pidge exclaims. 'Don't need to tell me twice'. "Hang on!" Through all of the yelling and focusing on his maneuvering Lance could hardly make out what Pidge was saying. Something about it not being the simulator? 

"Well that's good. I always wrecked the simulator!" He finally responds with a beam of his own, searing the side of the alien ship. The counter offensive was all for naught, as the attack did little more than destroy a few gun emplacements. Welp, time to turn tail and run. Get it? Because the lion has a tail. Well, looks like running isn't much of an option considering the ship can out speed them, wonderful. Well, at least they stopped shooting. Wait a minute.

"They've stopped trying to shoot us! It's like they're chasing us!"

" _Where_ are we?" Theres Keith again asking questions he didn't have the answer to. This time, Shiro did.

"The edge of the solar system. See? There's Kerberos." Sure enough they were flying past the moon rapidly.

"It takes our ships months to get out here! It took us, what, five seconds?" Pidge sounds more amazed about their speed than the alien tech at this point. Lance doesn't have time to remark on that as a wormhole, well what he assumes is a wormhole, materializes in their path. "What is that?" Hunk asks. Quite frankly, all these questions are getting ridiculous. Another feeling in his head from the lion no doubt.

"I think the lion wants us to go through there." He isn't immediately met with objection; instead, he's asked yet another question, this time by Pidge. "Where does it go?"

No answer from the lion, nor from Spira, as if he'd know. "I don't know," he answers solemnly. "Couldn't you, like, interface with the lion or something... or am I misinterpreting your powers?"

She rolls her eyes, clearly he'd gotten it wrong. "It isn't that easy Lance."

Back on topic. "Well Shiro, you're the senior officer here, this is your call." 

"Whatever is going on, the lion knows more than I do." Shiro, ever the symbol of a stoic protagonist, shakes his head ever so slightly. "We're a team now. We should make the decision together." Everyone offers their silent agreement, but Lance is most aware of the hand that Pidge places on his shoulder. Why's _that_ what he focuses on? Now's not the time for that. 

"Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow," Lance jokes as he flies directly into the wormhole. At least that got the alien ship off of their tail as the wormhole closes behind him. To say that traversing through the wormhole was rough would be an understatement. Once they exit, it isn't hard to discern what the lion intends between Hunk's vomiting and everyone else's general lostness. Ahead was a planet that looked a great deal like Earth, and the lion wanted them to go there. As it turns out, the lion was headed towards a castle. At least it's silhouette _resembled_ a castle. 

The front door to the super sci-fi castle opened up without much prompt, allowing the group to waltz right in. The place was spacious, largely unlit, and a bit unsettling. 'At ease young one, there is no present danger,' and there was Spira again. As helpful as his presence is, this isn't exactly the an opportune time to hold a conversation with an entity in his mind; a space that's becoming all to crowded. 

"Hello?" Hunk yells more than asks. Doesn't help that it echoes for quite a distance. It seemed to activate the place, as the AI that ran the place initiated a scan a few moments after the outburst. Shiro had questions, but they were left unanswered as the system didn't seem to be programed to respond to questions, at least not from unidentified variables. Instead, he was greeted with lights. Lots and lots of lights. That's just as good as any answer. 

"Whoa," both Lance and Pidge were in awe. Hunk just looked ready to crack an awful joke.

"Y'know, Lance. With the lights on, it's almost as bright as you."

Of course he didn't get where Hunk was going with that. Lance may not be the smartest of the bunch, but he wasn't slow. Then it hit him. 'Almost as bright as me... Brighthawk?' he thinks to himself. Oh. Everyone else opted to ignore the joke.

"Wow Hunk that was terrible. I mean, your humor isn't always one hundred, but jeez man." Despite the response, Hunk seemed proud of himself. The lighting continued down the hall, seemingly urging them to follow. Their little expedition led them to a cryo chamber. Their presence seemed to awaken whoever- whatever- was there. Two cryo-pods slowly rise from the floor, one revealing a dark skinned young woman with hair like clouds. Lance moved to catch her before she fell to the floor calling for her father. She had awoken fairly quickly for someone who had been in a cryo sleep. Now that he got a better look at her, Lance could say she was quite gorgeous. 

"Hello." He didn't hesitate to flirt, eyebrow raised and all. Or try, at least. 

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Lance, and you're right here in my arms." Smooth.

"Your ears..." His ears? What about them?

"Uhh.. yeah?" He was getting increasingly nervous. 

"They're hideous!" Ouch. "What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing's wrong with them!" Ooh, defensive. "They heard exactly what you said about them!" As did a certain unwilling spectator. The young woman, in one swift movement, grabbed him by the ear and forced him to the ground. The sudden pain in his knee was and force he'd been spun around with was indicative of surprising strength. The take down was paired with several questions that Lance didn't have the answer to. 

"All I know is that a giant blue lion brought us here." He wasn't lying, though a certain disembodied voice probably had some info it was holding out on. He shifts under the woman's grasp, clearly in pain.

Spira, however, didn't seem to care for words in situations such as this. Before the woman could relinquish her grip, Lance's physical formed shifted to the of the armor. He now towered over the woman, given that she'd let him go out of utter shock. That, and he no long had a ear to hold. She even had to look up to him as Lance now towered over her with the visage of a masked machine, the black sheen of the armor glistening under the multiple light sources. 

"What the- Seriously?!" Lance seemed just as shocked as she had looked. Everyone else decided to remain silent.

"What is the meaning of this? How is it that you possess the blue lion? That can't be right... what happened to it's paladin? Surely you jest. What are you all doing here...unless," the woman seemed to grow more and more distraught as she spoke, though she still kept a level head. "How long has it been?"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said, keeping his tone neutral. He didn't want to upset the woman any further. "Maybe we can help?"

"I am Princess Allura of planet Altea." Finally, a name. "I need to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep." 

There was a faint hum in Lance's mind at the mention of Altea. Apparently Spira did actually have information on this place, but he didn't say anything, at least not yet.

Allura was busy helming the control panel, likely trying to put a timetable to her hibernation. As she was occupied with her search, the second pod finally opened, revealing an older looking man with a very large, orange mustache. For whatever reason, his first instinct was to attack the person nearest to himself, believing Lance to be an "enemy combatant". The orange haired man attempted a flying kick, but was met with an unmoving Lance. 

"You're luck I've got a case of the old 'sleep chamber knees', or I'd have sent you flying with that kick!" he huffed.

Lance, clearly wanting to show off, lowers his stance, ready to humor the mysterious man. "Oh yeah? If that's the case, then I'd-" he makes a few gestures he assumes at least somewhat resemble real martial arts, "-how about that?" 

The mustached man didn't seem the slightest bit impressed, as he'd quickly retaliated with his own downright hilarious moves. "How could manage that when I could-"

"Man these guys are good," Hunk marveled. Pidge wasn't sure if he was serious or not, only offering a raised brow in response as she looked on at the spectacle of bafoonery before her eyes.

"I can't believe it," Allura gasps. This gets the man's attention, his fantastic moves being cut short.

"What is it princess?"

And the following news was utterly ridiculous. Being asleep for ten thousand years? That's absurd.

 

* * *

 

Apparently the group of randomly assorted teens and one adult turned out to be the paladins of this Voltron, Lance being example number one. They had all been separated to locate the remaining lions, Hunk being paired with Lance, though he kind of wanted to be sent off with Pidge. What? That couldn't be right. He didn't just think that. Really, he doesn't have time to think about any of that as he was currently being swarmed by.. whatever the hell they were called. 

'May I make a suggestion, young McClain?' Ah, Spira, just the alien expert he needed at the moment.

"I'm all ears!" Lance yelped, fists clenched on the controls as he attempts to take as many of the aliens as he could. Hunk had to have reached the lion by now! Nothing could stop him! At least nothing they had on the ground could.

'Two versus many has better odds than one versus many,' Spira 'says'. Why'd he have to be so vague? Lance groans in frustration. 

"What does that even mean?!" This is getting ridiculous.

He's really had enough of this for a lifetime already, superhero and savior of the universe be damned. 

'Join the lion in battle.'

Oh, so that's what he meant. But how would he-

'I can... commandeer the bond between you and your lion, pilot it while you fight outside.' That sounds like it could work. The blue lion seems fine with this decision, as it's presence in his mind is encouraging. Lance relinquishes the controls and travels down to the hatch, morphing into the armor once again, this time intentionally. Before he can take his leap of faith however, Hunk comes bursting through the crag in the yellow lion and subsequently shielded Lance and the blue lion from an attack while they weren't prepared. Bummer. 

"Aw, I was actually kinda lookin' forward to that," Lance mumbled to himself. 

"Looking forward to what? You know what, never mind. You okay?" Oh Hunk, always caring for others, jumping . Well, he _had_ just protected Lance and the blue lion, so maybe he deserved a little more praise. 

"Wow Hunk! You just took like..." Lance stops for a for second, not entirely sure of the quantity, "at east four missiles. And you didn't get a scratch!"

"Yeah, the yellow lion may be a bit of heavy side, but it more than makes up for it with the armor," Hunk beams, clearly gloating about his lion's superior armor. Lance smirks at his best friend's rare display of bravado. No time to celebrate about finding though. 

"Paladins! I need you to return to the castle immediately, I can not hold the wormhole for much longer," Allura chimes in over the comms. The duo set their bearings on the wormhole, thruster in full ignition. One cursory glance to the side to the yellow lion reveals that Hunk isn't exactly pilot material.

"Hunk, stop goofin' off, the wormhole's closing!" 

The only response he's met with are the sounds of Hunk vomiting.

_"Nice."_

Pidge and Shiro had a remarkably easy time retrieving the green lion, apparently. All they had to do was take a trip down a river with some weird sloth thing! They hadn't exactly risked their lives on some deserted planet who's only inhabitants happened to be the enemy. That didn't matter much now, anyway, since their was Galra ship currently in orbit around the planet, most likely prepping to attack at any moment. The only reason they hadn't attacked already is because this Commander Sendak fellow tried to play it nice. Needless to say that didn't transpire well. 

Lance and Hunk propose fleeing before they are attacked, but that's shot down immediately. Staying is the  _only_ option, according to Keith. He seems adamant that Sendak will destroy the planet whether they flee or not. 

"Hey Keith, buddy, I've got a better option for ya: shut your quiznak!" Lance suggests, hands on his hips to accentuate his point. 

"I don't think you're using that right." The two were now face to face, practically emanating anger. Their little stand-off provokes even more conflict amongst the team. In the end, it is Allura's decision, and her decision only. With assistance from her father's AI, the final verdict was to stay and fight. Each of the paladins possessed a color coded set of armor, though some didn't really need it. Well, it suffices to say that none of them really _needed_ it save for Shiro. They also received bayards, weapons that morphs into different forms based on the user. They were actually quite cool little gadgets.

Unfortunately, Shiro's was lost a long time ago. The alien arm may prove to be a suitable replacement. Keith, the show off he is, is immediately engulfed in the flames of hell, choosing to rely on the power of the rider for this mission. 

"I don't think thats necessary Keith." Shiro says backing away from the newly transformed warrior of vengeance.

Keith only scoffs before reverting back to his normal state. The two Alteans were clearly thrown through a loop, but Shiro promised to fill them in after they got themselves out of this mess. Maybe they'll think th Galra are biting off more than they can chew when dealing with humanity. 


	5. Infiltration is the Easy Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance, Keith and Shiro infiltrate the Galra ship to retrieve the red lion but are met with heavy resistance.

The plan seemed so well thought out. Fly in with the lions. Cause a distraction. Get Keith and Shiro in and get out with the red lion. The problem now is that Lance is on the retrieval team. Why you ask? He doesn't know either. The Galra seemed on high alert long before they arrived, having come face to face with the bad end of a few blasters almost immediately. 

"Tell me again why I'm here with you guys, instead, I don't know, flying my mechanical lion?" Lance asks as he narrowly avoids being hit by a stray beam, quick to return fire himself.

"Given the current situation, a third infiltrator doesn't seem so bad," Shiro says, taking cover behind a barricade that had been preemptively set up before their arrival.

Keith, quickly growing tired of being pinned down by overwhelming fire, decided being hunkered down in a corner wasn't getting them anywhere. "I'm thinking we should have just let you be a distraction," he grumbles, abandoning his shield to take initiative. 

"Keith wait!" Shiro's words fall on deaf ears as Keith vaults the barricade and rushes the sentries that have focused their fire on him. Several shots graze the armor before two successive shots hit him square in the abdomen, burning two holes straight through. Keith grits his teeth, fighting through the pain to strike down at least one sentry. 

Lance grits his teeth, watching Keith practically kill himself. "Keith! What are you doing?!"

'No, what are you doing, young one? You can provide the proper assistance to dispose of these weak imitations.' To say Spira was unimpressed with the Galra's androids would be a severe understatement.

Keith, however, proved he didn't really need any assistance to begin with, as he quickly donned his hellish form, having taken far too many shots to the less-armored portions of his body. The Ghost Riders everyone was familiar with usually utilized chains of some sort. Keith did not. Instead, his bayard-turned-sword burst into flame along with him. If he was utterly useless, at least he looked cool while doing nothing. 

"Oh. Yeah. He can do that." Lance was clearly impressed. If you asked him, he'd probably admit that Keith looked pretty cool. Now, he doesn't look nearly as cool as Lance himself, but he looks cool. Now isn't exactly the time to admire Keith's skeletal ass as he's quickly reminded of the situation by the beam that grazes his shoulder. 

"Lance, focus. We've gotta follow Keith's lead. He's given us an opening!" and with that, Shiro was racing off behind the path of destruction that followed Keith. Lance took this more of a challenge than an order.

"Uh, Shiro. If we needed an opening I'm your guy!" 

"What do you mean?" Shiro yells over his shoulder. His answer comes in the form of a deep blue blur that shot off past Keith's wrath, adding to the Galra scrap heap. "Uh, okay. That works." From that point forward, the utter annihilation of the opposing forces made the search for the lion much easier than it had any right to be. It was during his downright leisurely stroll that he remembered Pidge had also boarded the ship. 

"Keith, Lance! Where's Pidge?" Shiro asks, looking around frantically as if the young girl in question would materialize beside him. Lance is the first to break off of his assault. Pidge _was_ his teammate first.

"Where could she have gone! Oh! Maybe she went to find some info on her brother! Or dad. Probably both. I'm going with both on this one." They either forget they could communicate with her where they were or they ignored it outright in favor of misplaced panic. 

Pidge on the otherhand, was in fact snooping around for info. Every panel she'd come across didn't have access to any important information, so she'd long strayed from the group under the cover of battle. In between panels, she checks the progress of the others and immediately notices they're off course. "What're they doing?"

In her bewilderment, she walks square into the back of a sentry. "Quiznak." The sentry, believing Pidge to be a weakling, makes an effort to physically subdue her but that is quickly proven to be a mistake. The instance the sentry makes contact with Pidge it's sent flying into a wall hard enough to force a shutdown, but not hard enough to break it outright. 

"Alright, this may be easier than expected," Pidge says, a smirk playing at her lips. Her hand splits open to allow a small cable she can attach to sentry to snake out. Sure she may have technopathy, but hostile programming is too much of a hassle to strongarm. That, and she couldn't interface with a machine thats shutdown without the use of a direct link. After a mere moment, the sentry is back online, but instead of the hostile red, it's visor was now green. "I need you to direct me to where I can get info, understand?" It salutes her before striding down the hallway with Pidge in tow. Oh, the guys. A quick pulse informed her of an idling drone that had yet been alerted. She quickly overrode it's programming, it not having been actively hostile. 

"You're actually kind of cute. I'll call you Rover." Pidge says with a smile. The captured sentry looks back, expecting to be named as well. "Oh, uhh... how about Sentry? No that's already taken. And fairly derivative. Oh, I know! Auto." The machine seemed to be content with whatever she called it, as it made no further attempts at getting her attention.

"Okay Rover. I need you to go the guys and direct them to the red lion, got it?" A beep. "Good."

Meanwhile, Lance, still parading around as Brighthawk, backtracked in an attempt to find their missing comrade. Once the harmless Rover approaches him, he almost cleaves it in two with his wings if not for Spira insisting it isn't hostile. It relays the directions directly to Lances- the armor's databank. "I take it Pidge sent you?" Rover beeps in agreement, then joy at the mention of it's master. "She sure is crafty. Wait... this whole time we've been going the wrong way?" Lance quickly informs Keith and Shiro of their little mishap in the form a question that's a bit too loud. Needless to say, getting back on track wasn't much more difficult, if it was more difficult to begin with. 

"I'm going to go find Pidge, she shouldn't be alone. Okay maybe she can be alone but that's not what I'm getting at here. I mean-"

"Lance. I understand. Be careful, we don't know what else they may have up their sleeves," Shiro says, actually exerting himself now that Lance wasn't there to clean house with Keith, though he and Keith were still a _very_ dangerous duo. 

Finding Pidge isn't all that hard when she finds you first. Lance really can't complain either since his tracking skills are sorely lacking. "Where do you think you're going Lance?" Her sudden inquiry causes Lance to embed himself in the nearest wall. 

"So that's how that feels. Noted." 

"Payback's a bitch." She shrugs as she says it. The epitome of nonchalance. Lance, however, gasps far too dramatically for his current physical appearance.

"Pidge! Language!"  

"Fuck off." 

" _Por Dios_ , Pidge. We're gonna have to wash your mouth out at this rate." The glare she gives him is ten thousand times more frightening than anything the Galra have done so far. Who knew such a small person could be so terrifying.

"Try it and I hack your systems."

"Okay!" It's only now Lance notices Auto trailing behind them. "I take it that you made a friend."

Pidge smirks, pride seeping through like water through a cracked dam. "Well, hacking their tech isn't all that hard. That may be due to how few people try it, but I digress. And my friend's name is Auto. She's great, thanks."

Lance quirks a brow at the declaration of sex of a robot. "But.. it... you know what? Never mind."

"Good, we've got to go. Keith and Shiro found the Red Lion." 

Lance perks up once again. He never misses a chance to show off. "Do you need a ride, by any chance?" Pidge's scoff answers him well enough.

"Well, I've got a rendezvouz with Green, but you can carry auto," she says, turning to blast a hole through the ships hull before Lance has a chance to respond. The rather large jet pack that sprouts from her back takes him by surprise.

"You can fly?! Why didn't you say that when, I dunno, we were running away from the Garrison troops?"

"Our armor has thrusters already, I just integrated them into myself and made a few altercations so I could sustain actual flight in-atmosphere." This girl will never cease to amaze him.

"Okay, that's _awesome!_ You look like a frickin' gundam or something," he says as he follows suit, Auto planted firmly on his back.

Their little flight doesn't last very long since their lions meet them halfway. Shiro in the Black Lion is a pleasant surprise, especially when they see that the ship is about fire it's main canon directly at the castle without the intervention of the particle barrier.

"Damn, we should have taken care of that on board... Alright everyone, we need to take them down before they destroy the castle," Shiro orders superficially damaging the hull of the Galra cruiser. Even as a unit, they weren't doing nearly enough to destroy the ship before it fired. Looks like Voltron really was needed. They aren't even sure how they manage to form Voltron to begin with over the simultaneous battle cries. 

Crisis averted for now, but the Galra are going to pursue them until they claim the lions for themselves. When Lance discovers Pidge poking around in the Green Lion, he takes the opportunity to purposely frighten her. Revenge, according to himself.

"Looks like we're in this for the long run," he says, hoping to illicit a flinch from his comrade to no avail.

"Nice try, Lance, but I knew you were coming." She doesn't turn around to face him. 

"What're you even-" then it hits him. "How'd you know I was coming? You got a tracker on me or something? And don't say your robot buddies told you because they're in here with you!"

Pidge instantly tenses, halting whatever it was she was doing to turn to him with a beet red a face. "If you need to know, _yes_ I'm tracking all of you. Now stop bothering me, I'm bonding with Green." 

Lance is escorted out of Green's hanger without hesitation by Auto, and no retaliation by Lance, who may or may not have been incapable of perceiving Pidge's blushing face. 

**Author's Note:**

> Suggestions on what could be improved and comments in general are welcome! 
> 
> Check out my tumblr (http://tempestal.tumblr.com/) for art that may or may not be related to any of my fics. If you want, that is.


End file.
